Rudin went away. He knew by now through experience that men and women of the world do not break with a man who is of no further use to them, but simply let him drop, like a kid glove after a ball, like the paper that has wrapped up sweets, like an unsuccessful ticket for a lottery.

Rudin by Ivan Turgenev (via madamemarmot)

Women were different, no doubt about it. Men broke so much more quickly. Grief didn’t break women. Instead it wore them down, it hollowed them out, very slowly.

Cornelia Funke, Inkdeath